Chinatown’s Fire Dragon Festival aims to showcase community’s resilience, boost tourism

The Fire Dragon Festival returned to Vancouver’s Chinatown neighbourhood on Saturday, drawing in hundreds of visitors throughout the day.

“It's amazing to see all these people down here whether they're from Vancouver or not,” said Stephanie Leo, the co-chair of Chinatown Legacy Stewardship Group and one of the event’s organizers.

“As a community, we’re so great at coming together, whether it’s to face crises, or to come together and celebrate,” she continued.

The event has been cancelled for the last two years due to pandemic-related restrictions. Its return comes on the heels of a number of recent violent attacks in the area, including this past week where a young delivery worker was stabbed unprovoked.

Last month, a well known security guard was attacked while on the job. A province-wide arrest warrant has since been issued for his attacker. Vandalism of landmarks and businesses have also been reported to have increased in the area since the onet of the pandemic. 

Leo hopes Saturday’s event will help people look past the violent crime that has taken place in the neighbourhood.

“It’s really important that people see how welcoming Chinatown can be as a space and we really want to protect it for future generations,” she said.

In addition to bringing in more visitors to the neighbourhood, she said the festival aims to honour the community’s ancestors and elders as well as educate the community about Chinese culture and traditions.

The festival had a packed schedule which included calligraphy, a moon cake workshop and an evening parade.

“It’s events like this that show just how strong the neighbourhood is,” said Michael Tan, an event volunteer.

“It’s part of having more eyes on the street. I think there’s safety in numbers and if we can bring more people into Chinatown, that’ll hopefully keep some of the bad elements away from the neighbourhood,” added Jordan Eng of the Vancouver Chinatown Business Improvement Association.

The community hopes more celebratory events will be planned for the future and that soon the neighbourhood will be in the spotlight again for its culture and resilience.